


Rational Animals

by ink2819



Series: Microeconomics [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-10-28 20:24:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17794151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ink2819/pseuds/ink2819
Summary: High School Economics teacher Jordan has had a crush on his life long friend and colleague Ryan for quite some time. The question is, would he ever have the balls to finally admit it.





	1. Chapter 1

Jordan's best mate Ryan was quite the opposite of him. The young, athletic English teacher didn't even remember his own assignments and never grades his test on time. Ryan was careless, all over the place and... charming.

 

 _What? There was nothing wrong with admitting that Ryan is charming,_ it was a universal fact.

 

And Jordan loved his facts.

 

February the fourteenth of 2018 was Valentine's Day. It was also the day of Jordan's epic prank on Ryan. When Jordan Sisson plans something, he executes it to perfection.

 

But real life is never so simple.

 

At 10:15 am, everything went wrong. An unexpected power outage interrupted Jordan's flawless timeline, and a few minutes later Jordan and his full class of students were drove to the football field as if it was a fire drill.

 

And of course, there was Ryan across the field, surrounded by a sworn of high school girls. He somehow got a rose and held the stem between his teeth. The stupid red flower dangled from the corner of his mouth as he walked around demonstrating his flamboyant new look.

 

 _What an idiot_ , Jordan thought to himself.

 

The Californian sun light was a bit too warm for Jordan even in the midst of February. He turned away deliberately not to keep staring at Ryan and his teenage fangirls and shielded his eyes from the sun, painfully aware that his white boy skin was turning into a deeper shade of rose by the second.

 

“Do you have a date today Mr. Eshoff?” From behind, Jordan heard a

girl asked Ryan just the kind of question he would love. Afterall, Ryan made a hobby out of showing off his sexlife to sixteen year olds all the while mocking Jordan’s, or his lack thereof.

 

He heard Ryan laugh. The kind of perfect dry laugh you would hear Hollywood celebrities do when they encounter a personal inquiry on TV.

 

“No I don’t have a date today,” He said, “I was hoping... just a night out with my buddies, I guess.”

“Is Sisson invited?”

_It’s Mr. Sisson to you, young lady._

“Why don’t we find out right now?” Ryan’s voice was followed with muffled footsteps on the grass field.

Jordan pretended not to notice.

 

“Looks like you’re blushing.” Came the voice again. Jordan turned around, and saw Ryan standing right behind him with smiley eyes and a red rose tucked behind his ear.

“Because I’m being grilled out here in an open field.” He explained,sulkily. Sulky because Ryan had the beautiful honey coloured tan while he was helplessly pasty and crackled under even just a little bit of sun. Sulky because Ryan wore the tightest shirts everyday to school and walked through the hallways with his broad chest sticking out like a giant peacock and his shirt buttons on the verge of bursting, while not a single soul would bother to stare at Jordan’s body. Sulky because Ryan got all the girls and all the offers to social gatherings and the coolest places while Jordan had enough time to himself that he could eat at the same restaurant every Friday night---alone---for an entire duration of six months.

 

He was sulky because even though he talked about his relationship with Ryan and made fun of him in front of the students in his class as if they were best buddies and had been like that for ages, at the end of the day, he was just a nerdy awkward boy who wanted a place next to the cool senior kid who was the star of the basketball team, just like how it was so many years ago, in the same damn school they are right now.

 

But Jordan would deny all of this in a heartbeat.

He too knew a thing or two about how to appear self confident. I mean, he learned how to speak composedly and concisely like a corporate manager who knew his shit. He lived on a rigorous routine and got all of his itemized tasks done in a timely manner like a responsible adult. He was one of the very few teachers that had some actual authority over the students, for crying out loud. He spent great effort on putting together a wardrobe with great quality and taste and even a hint of casual humor in some of the pieces. Hell, he even got featured in the best dressed teacher column last year in the year book. How could he possibly suffer from any insecurity in front of Ryan. After alphabetizing all of his personal belongings, he was certain there should be nothing left in the world for him to feel anxious and insecure about. He was so much more mature than Ryan, who on the other hand was a grown up living a pretend life of a college student. Of course Ryan would be the coolest big brother to all the students in the school.

 

 _But I live in the real world._ Jordan said to himself. He was not playing the ‘popular’ game anymore, but he could be fun too, right? He skipped his grad school graduation just to ride a scooter outside the stadium. Wasn’t that just the playfulness it takes to be cool?

 

Jordan had a full trunk of crazy Valentine decorations and trinkets out in the school parking lot. During break while everyone leave the portable classrooms far out of the campus to have lunch, Jordan was going to sneak in to Ryan’s afternoon classroom and plant a surprise for him.

In the best scenario, when the afternoon fourth period starts, Ryan, being his typical self, would appear a few minutes late to the classroom and find a full room of pink balloons, chocolate boxes, cheesy love letters with his name written across, and a whole room of giggling students with their snapchat and instagram cameras pointing at the door to make an even bigger scene out of the situation.

Since that morning, Jordan couldn’t help chuckling to himself everytime he imagined the look on Ryan’s face.

“Do you have plans tonight?” Asked the owner of said face, pulling Jordan back into the present.

“It’s hard to say, I have to check over my materials for tomorrow,

and something might come up from back home.” Jordan was deliberately giving Ryan a hard time, and trying not to seem overly eager for company. It was a regular Wednesday. Nobody---no matter how physically appealing and characteristically delightful, could just randomly organize a night out on a Wednesday night.

“Okay. Let’s meet up with the Ross-duo at seven, then.”

 

As it turns out, Ryan just might.

 

“S-sure.” Jordan found himself complying with the plan, “There’s a really good film on, I think it’s called--”

Before Jordan could finish talking, the dean appeared at the front center of the field and told them the school day was off early, because they couldn’t restore the power in a few hours. The parents were to come and pick the students up soon.

That must meant he had to call off the prank as well, for there would be no audience to congratulate his genius.

For a moment, Jordan couldn’t hide the disappointment on his face, and Ryan noticed it. “Woah, you must be really looking forward to your class this afternoon, whatever you were about to teach them.”

“I was about to change their lives with Economics.”

“Too bad for the chapel speaker who came all the way. He’s not gonna

change their lives today even with Jesus.”

Jordan laughed at that, knowing that he probably shouldn’t.

“I guess I’m just gonna head home after this, still on for tonight?”

“Absolutely.”

 

Jordan stayed behind to direct the incoming traffic while Ryan went straight home. His cheeks were embarrassingly red as a direct result from standing for hours under the sun.

A stubborn perfectionist that he was, Jordan refused to go home with his plan a failure and all of his effort unnoticed. He figured if he went to Ryan’s classroom and set everything up right then, he could still have his moment tomorrow morning. It would be even better because the school is now almost empty, a perfect time for him to sneak a dozens of neon pink objects across the school unnoticed.

Jordan then waited until all the cars from the parking lot was completely gone, and carried everything out from his trunk. He held the box of embarrassing objects close to his body and speed walked through the school to smuggle them into Ryan’s morning classroom. He avoided everyone he might know and took the most discreet route possible. He felt his heart pounding and excitement building in his chest. He couldn’t believe he was actually doing this. An incredibly silly and outrageous prank, unlike the all rational and reasoned person that he often took pride in being.

What is the point of all this? What are they going to think of me after this? What if they don’t like the joke?

 

Jordan decided he was no coward to quit.

 

It was too late to call it off anyways. The next half hour flew by as Jordan unleashing his creativity to make the classroom as frightening romantic as he could. He sat on a desk writing stupid love letters and laughing to himself like a child, realizing that this must be close to how Ryan felt when he put that rose in his mouth, when Ryan joked around with the students in class---this must be how Ryan felt all the time.

  


“Hey--what the heck?”

 

Jordan heard the familiar sound behind him and immediately put down the pink letter that he was writing on a second ago, but it was too late.

He did not understand how he could have possibly missed the footsteps in the hallway and the sound of someone opening the goddamned door.

 

He was caught red handed, by the intended victim himself.

 

The epic prank had just turned into an epic fail.

 

Ryan was standing by the door, a bag on his shoulder and a chain of keys in hand, looking...somehow more...pleasantly surprised than angry.

“Did you do this?” He asked, smiling.

Jordan was still frozen on the spot. He felt his face heat up again this time by embarrassment rather than direct exposure to the sun. He swallowed, twice, and demanded himself to own up to what he’d done.

“Yes,” he replied, sounding a lot more serious than he intended to, “I was going to prank you tomorrow…”

“A pretty good prank from what I’m experiencing so far.” Ryan said understandingly, putting down his bag and keys. He walked slowly inside the room to take in the balloons, the flowers, the pink foil fringes, and the confetti---to the letters Jordan was guarding with a pair of very stiff arms.

“Let’s see what we’ve got here.” Ryan walked over to Jordan, who was still sitting atop a desk, and took the pink paper out of Jordan’s hand, reading it out loud. “Mr.E has the mind of a college professor and the body of a porn star---a bit too R-rated for the high school setting, don’t you think?”

Jordan knew he turned bright red after hearing that. He wished Ryan could laugh hysterically at that or even take an offense, which would make the situation at least a bit less awkward for him.

Instead, Ryan just looked at him with his permanent stupid grin, and comforting, caramel coloured, kind eyes.

He was the kind of person who smiled all his life with such intensity every time that the smile was carved into his face.

 

_God his teeth are so bright._

 

“And this one says… Mr. E holding a red rose on the football field

is more Romeo than Dicaprio...I knew you were checking me out on the field earlier, I knew it!”

 

Now Jordan feel like Ryan was deliberately making him feel bad.

 

“Look, I thought it would be funny…” He began to apologize.

“It was.” Ryan caught his gesturing hand in mid air, and Jordan stopped to look---and regretting---right when he saw the way Ryan’s hand held his pale wrist---it was too much, and everything was suddenly a lot more unsettling than it should have been.

If Ryan was made uncomfortable by the loaded silence between them, he did not show it, “I got pranked by Jordan Sisson on February 14th, 2018. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

 

_Holy Mother of God._

 

As Ryan leaned into Jordan’s personal space, Jordan leaned towards him as well. It all happened...  seamlessly, largely due to how smooth Ryan was with everything that he does. Those lips were inviting to him, and it felt safe. As if in that moment nothing bad could ever happen in the whole universe, and Jordan would be accepted, welcomed, even, no matter what a man he considered himself to be, he would be wrapped up in that understanding, smothering hospitality. Somehow, to him, Ryan could make true on that promise.

So Jordan went for it, and all the little hairs on the back of his neck went straight up on end as he did. He heard the noise of wind blowing in his ear and then realized it was his own blood rushing through his head. It must have been a few inches between them, but it felt like a leap through a never-ending darkness, as if he swooped a hundred feet to close that gap. He pressed his lips against Ryan’s, and felt like swooning. They are so soft, and a bit chapped---as the wave of sudden impulse swept through him, Jordan was left with the overcoming fear of rejection, and dared not go any further. His hands and feet were painfully cold, and he craved oxygen.

Countless doubts and terrifying thoughts rushed into Jordan’s mind. _He must be repulsed,_ he thought. _He was just leaning for a hug or something. There is no way I can live with what I just did._

If was a miracle when Ryan responded with pressure, so faint at first he thought it must had been an illusion. Jordan told himself it was just because Ryan was doing it out of instinct. But soon he realized Ryan was not only a skilled lover, he was also a magical creature that somehow achieved to not ever disappoint. The firm hands went to his waist and pulled him down towards him as the kiss went far beyond chaste. Ryan parted his lips with his tongue, and flicked against the the roof of his mouth, drawing out an embarrassing little noise that was as loud as thunder in the empty, echoey classroom.

Sweating out of the palm of his hands, Jordan pushed against Ryan’s tongue and tried to mimic his rhythm. He had proudly announced his virginity in front of several classes full of teenagers to claim the moral high ground, but at the moment he was sitting on a desk snogging his life-long friend and co-worker in a Christian High School classroom in the after hours, who he confirmed, had a body of an adult video performer and was currently standing between his parted thighs.

When Ryan grabbed his cold hands and placed them on each side of his body, none of that seemed to matter so much. He felt Ryan’s lean muscles beneath the crisp fabric, and, with heated cheeks, wondered to the lower back and slipped below the waist line. Ryan laughed at the salacious attempt made towards his arse, puffs of air tickling the top of his lips, and kissed him deeper.

 

He didn’t want this to be over.

 

But it had to, someone could walk in and see them---Actually, if this go on any longer, someone would definitely hear them. Jordan couldn’t help the noises coming out of his mouth, nor could he tell how long he could last, since Ryan’s tongue sliding in and out of his mouth was the closest he had ever felt like fucking.

 

He felt like surrendering. He wanted to be coaxed and manhandled into losing control, wanted to be teased all night and then made to beg for what he wants. He rejected a lot of things on the grounds of personal principles in his life, but whatever Ryan ask of him, he felt he could do it in a heartbeat, as long as that man promises to get under the covers with him and take him hard and slow. He wanted skin, wanted quiet intimacy as well as loud moans and panting. With each stroke of Ryan’s fingers along his thigh, every slightest touch burned, and it was a shame, an absolute shame he did not get to tell him how much he loved it by whispering whimpers and pleas into his ear.

 

God, he was so hard it hurts.

 

Ryan’s fingers tucked at his tie. after a fraction of suffocation he realized his collar had been torn apart and his neck fully exposed to the open air. It tingled. As Ryan nuzzled into the crook of his neck, Jordan smugly decided that he was the more neatly shaven one out of the two of them.

 

“You smell like daisies.” Ryan murmured against his neck, while licking a line from his collar up to his ear. Breath hot. tongue wet.

 

“Fucking hell----” Jordan Squirmed and shivered in his arms, legs hooking around his waist.

Ryan laughed at that, too. He paused the torture on Jordan’s very sensitive ear and took held of his cheek in one hand, so that they would stare into each other’s eyes.

 

Jordan felt his heart tug.

 

“What?” He asked, averting his eyes for a second to Ryan’s lips---all bruised up and wet, by his doing.

“You ARE a really good kisser.” Ryan said, looking up through his long lashes, and somehow that trumped all the other compliments Jordan had ever had in his life.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Jordan Sisson grew up a perfect christian boy. 

He had his ‘crazy days’ in college, joined a frat and everything. No sex, though. Young Jordan clasped his Bible to his chest and said he did not want to have any regrets in the future. A fair amount of exercise and self control helped him get to his mid twenties with his virginity intact.

It was just a choice that he made. He had been offered in the past, several times, in fact. His students made fun of it behind his back, some of them especially vicious. 

“That’s why he’s all up-tight like that.” They say, 

“All those years of sexual frustration building up.” 

“He’s gone sour.” 

“I bet him doesn’t even wank off.” 

“Last time he made out was his first kiss in kindergarten.”

 

But he was not going to second guess himself just because some teenage girls thought he was sheltered. He made the decision because it was the right thing to do. 

The right rules are always the toughest to follow. Live is not without challenges and temptations. Jordan’s strict Texan grandparents taught him that, his model Christian mother also. 

What came to mind was his younger self, eighteen years old, resisting temptations whenever they arose.

_ It’s the right thing to do, isn’t it?  _

_ Am I doing what I’m told to?  _

_ Does that make me a good boy? _

His Sunday youth group leader would say yes, so does pastor at church, and his Bible teacher in high school. They would give him a pat on the shoulder and tell him he is a good servant of the Lord.

The Lord didn’t seem to be helping Jordan in anyway when he fell into the dark and dangerous abyss of sensual pleasures with Ryan Eshoff. 

Ryan pulled him off the table with firm hands holding his hips. As Jordan’s numb feet touched the floor, Ryan crowded him against the table, grounding their erected members together.

 

_ Jesus, He was… _

 

_ For ME. _

 

Jordan was rock hard under his suit trousers, and he could feel Ryan’s body temperature from his mutual hardness, burning through layers of fabric. 

Maybe he was able to brush off the temptations up to this point only because he had never had a hit of it so strong. 

Ryan’s cheek was against his. Breath heavy. His most wonderful stubble dragging across the soft skin. 

They rocked slowly together. surges of heated pleasure generated from their swelling crotches, and pulsed through Jordan’s spine, spreading all the way to his finger tips. His soul buzzed, mind bathing in a glorious bliss.

The table was screeching behind them.Ryan slid a warm hand between the small of Jordan’s back and the edge of the plastic to stop it from digging into his flesh, while protecting Jordan from tipping over. 

Jordan wanted to mumble a word of appreciation, but instead it came out as  an erotic hum.

He was too far gone to be embarrassed about it anyways.

He could stay here, and simply dry hump into oblivion.

Jordan wanted to be good. Not for the church or the preachers. He wanted to be good for the irresistible man embracing him. For Ryan seemed more important, and more real than any God above.

 

Wanted to be a good boy for Ryan.

It felt like blasphemy. It felt like sin. 

It was delicious it made his cock throb.

 

Later that day, they joined their friends at the theatres. Ryan’s hand searched for his in the darkness, and Jordan barely paid any attention to the film. Even the deafening bass during the action sequence was no louder than his own heart pounding. 

Ryan, while laying his palm on top of Jordan’s skin, did not turn to look at him at all. His eyes were fixed on the screen, and chuckled out loud when a decent joke landed. Perhaps a snarky comment made by the protagonist, perhaps something silly instead. Jordan wouldn’t know, because the edge of Ryan’s nail was scratching the center of his wrist. He wanted to look at where their hands joined, but feared someone next to them would notice. 

As Jordan let out a shaky breath. He gathered up the pathetic amount of courage that he had left, and rubbed a small circle on the back of Ryan’s hand with his thumb. 

Ryan tightened his hold at once.

 

Halfway through the film, Ryan started petting his forearm like you would soothing a flustered small animal. It worked on him--Jordan admitted in his head right then, feeling terribly ashamed. 

The whole evening Jordan spent in confusion, shame, and anxiousness. But Ryan made it all endurable somehow. He even made Jordan dismiss the fact that he was the very person who induced all of that discomfort in the first place. 

It was a fucking paradox. 

Jordan used to hate paradoxes, because you couldn’t reason with them. 

But this particular one was surprisingly pleasant. 

Jordan did also try to catch up with the plot of the movie, but he felt as if he was watching a foreign film made by aliens. None of the dialogue held any significance, and his mind was blurry, nothing seemed to stick. At one point he saw everyone on screen looking very grim, so he figured that must be the ‘all is lost’ part before the final climax, which means this is all soon to be over. 

Ryan leaned slightly to his side in the very moment, masked by the sound track and darkness around them, he whispered, 

“I want to take you home.”

Jordan would gasp and look at Ryan in surprise if he was not so stunned motionless by that sentence. 

What does one do when one is taken home by Ryan Eshoff? The man is probably used to inviting hot girls to his residence late into the night. What does he expect? Amazing oral sex after a few glasses of red wine? Rigorous intercourse with both participants screaming each other’s names in multiple positions? Jordan could do none of that. The amount of pressure that he was feeling at the moment, he doubted he could even handle a normal conversation. 

Jordan naively assumed he would be let alone after this, released after an afternoon of heavy flirting to retreat back to his apartment and have a good wank.

He had not done that in months. 

 

The last time Jordan masterbated was after going on a date with that girl he met at church. The date went horribly. The girl was pissed drunk after just a light cocktail and insisted on dancing. They danced, she puked all over him, and he was justifiably angry. As if that wasn’t enough, he called an uber to send her home, and the girl sat on him for the whole ride. To her defense, Jordan would act as a human buffer so that she wouldn’t get car sick. 

Well, she puked again before they could get to her house. 

Somehow after all of the chaos, Jordan managed to come home aroused.

 

This time, he would actually have something to think about.

 

Ryan’s hand on his body, burning through his shirt. Ryan parting his legs with his thigh and intruding his mouth with his clever, clever tongue. He would imagine how in a perfect world, he would not have to worry about his complete lack of sexual techniques or his “equipment” firing prematurely even before Ryan could finish stripping off his Lululemon trousers.

Ryan would breach him, and it would not hurt a bit.

None of the junk food he shoved into his delicate digestive system would cause any apprehension whatsoever.  

He would ride Ryan like there is no tomorrow, proving that all those years of cycling did not go to waste.

Jordan would not be the gluten intolerant awkward virgin on the verge of a cardiac arrest.

He’d be able to sunbathe with Ryan by the beach until sunset without turning into a lobster.

He’d be just fine taking a couple of bug bites going on a camping trip with Ryan instead of having his face swell up twice its size.

In his fantasy, he would make Ryan laugh and cry and pant and moan and want him back.

He would have no trouble admitting to the man that he had wanted him like that since he was a teenager, and have Ryan say “I wanted you, too.”

They’d abandon all things and shag like those stoned hippies in San Francisco night clubs in the Summer nights of the 80s.

 

Abstinence be damned. Tonight Jordan would go home and wank to THAT.

 

*

The evening was coming to an end, and Ryan wanted to know what’s next.

He couldn’t possibly measure up to Ryan, he knew that. 

Ryan was too kind---too open minded, sympathetic. 

Jordan wonder if he was pitied in this situation.  

He remained silent until the film ended. Ryan let go of his hand to applaud.

It was a decent film, then. 

They stayed in their seats till the title ended, as usual.

The easter egg was pointless, as usual.

Jordan walked out with the crowd without a word. He did not follow the guys into the restroom. By this time, his own silence was the only thing ringing in his head.

 

“So, what did you think?” His colleague’s wife asked out of boredom, as they were the only two people waiting outside the gents.

His instinct kicked in, “I liked in a lot, but I’m dying to hear what Matt has to say about it.” 

That was a lie, he did not remember a single thing about that film after the whole two hours of flirtatious torment, not mentioning forming an solid opinion on the movie.

That was fine, he was hoping that Matt, the young new media teacher would hijack the conversation and leave his self conscious mind some time of its own, and his wish was magically granted---Matt talked all the way from the cinema exit to the car park, and Ryan chimed in whenever it was appropriate to do so, while stealing warm glances at Jordan. 

Bright smile in his eyes. 

Like he was not doing every dirtiest thing possible to Jordan a few hours ago in his own classroom. 

“Well, this is us.” Said Matt and his wife next to their car. “What are you two up to now, heading home?”

“Early start tomorrow, I think------”

Ryan stared at Jordan while his mouth moved to form a reply, whatever he said, it was a lie. For his eyes were lingering on Jordan’s open collar for just a second too long. 

They locked eyes---both masking their true thoughts with blank faces---a secret shared amongst themselves.

Jordan’s heart was pounding out of rhythm.  _ He---what? I’m not--- _

_ That junk food from earlier---heart, breathing---God dammit, I’m a fucking---Why does he---?A sudden curiosity in untouched twinks? I---- _

 

_ Christ. _

 

As their friends’ vehicle went out of sight, Jordan found himself standing alone with Ryan in the winter Californian breeze. The night was quiet, and...flat. The secret out in the open and lost its charm. Heavy on the tip of his tongue, a debate awaited.

 

To be true, or to be inauthentic, to please---but accepted?

No buildings or crowd to hide, not a single sound to distract him.

 

He inhaled, feverish and weak.

“Ryan, I---”

 

_ I tried for you. I’m still trying. _

 

“Come here.” Ryan cut off his pathetic attempt to construct a comprehensible sentence. His arms went around Jordan and pulled him close, firm and whole hearted of an embrace. 

“Jordan, I know you don’t take these things lightly.” Ryan said, intense fondness in his eyes. “I’m so fucking glad you chose me.”

 

“It was always you, I---since high school.” Jordan felt his fear vaporizing into the night sky. He reached up and caught Ryan’s mouth in the most fervent kiss he knew possible. Ryan’s hand slid right in under the tail of his shirt and kissed him back like he was something precious. 

 

“Take me home,” Jordan murmured against his friend’s lips. “Take me home before I change my mind.”


End file.
